Dear Fellow Floridian:

Over the past 18 months, I have had the opportunity to meet with many small business owners and their employees across our state. Despite the struggles of the past few years, these Floridians have displayed resilience in the face of a Goliath of economic challenges. On Monday, let us remember what Labor Day is really about: celebrating the American principle of hard work that helps strengthen our economy and cultivates innovation and progress.

This morning, just as every morning, approximately 2.2 million businesses across our state unlocked their doors to serve their communities. For Florida’s small businesses, serving the community not only means providing Floridians with a service or product, it also means employing four out of five of their neighbors. Small businesses are the driving force behind employment in this state. There is no doubt our focus needs to be on cultivating these businesses so that Floridians have access to a thriving job market.

Next week, we will be gathering with small businesses from across the state at our 2012 Small Business Leadership Forum to help our business community access resources and information that will positively impact their bottom line. This isn’t just a one-way conversation. I am eager to hear from these businesses about their successes, challenges and what we can do to help their business grow and employ even more of their fellow Floridians. There is still time to sign up:
www.flsmallbusinessforum.com/register.

Florida's Bottom Line

This issue of
Florida’s Bottom Line focuses on Florida’s small business community
and how to provide a stable economic environment so that we can continue
to help businesses flourish and expand.

The companion website features business news updates and
Florida By the Numbers, a collection of key statistics illustrating
important changes in Florida’s economy over the past month. The latest
data is shown on topics such as consumer confidence, unemployment rate,
new foreclosure activity and Florida's leading, stock and retail index
graphs. Updates are made as new statistics become available.